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THE 20's Fred Deeley & Friends held the first meeting of the "Lions Gate Motorcycle Club" in 1922, above Fred Deeley Cars & Motorcycle Dealership at 901 West Broadway. The club grew steadily during the 20's, with Friday night meetings (poker games) and weekend camp-outs with 30 + machines and families in sidecars.
THE 30's "The
Lions Gate M/C" joined with "The High Hatters M/C" to
form the "GVMC"
which held meetings at "The High Hatters" clubhouse on Quinella Drive. Colours were decided upon as black
and orange. The first New Year's Day Run was held.
The first annual Caribou Trails was held in 1930:
originally called the "300 miler". The
"GVMC" was incorporated
under the Societies Act as "Greater Vancouver
Motorcycle Club" in 1939. The members built a new
clubhouse on Melbourne Street.
GVMC sponsored dirt track activities in
Mission, Chilliwack and across from the PNE (later
McAllister Park). Hill climbs were held at Panorama
Ridge and Booth's Hill in Maillardville.
THE 40's The Melbourne clubhouse property was sold. Willie Telford was elected President of
GVMC. Indian Motorcycles sponsored "Willie" at Daytona. "Wild Willie's" racing partner at Daytoa was Trev Deeley. Trev blew a piston on his 45 W.R. which he donated to form the Piston Run Trophy which is still used to this day. In 1947, Bob Carey started a tour to eastern Canada on a HD 61and then went to Central America: a total of 19,000 miles. The next year, he rode to Seattle, took a boat to Alaska, and rode back to Vancouver via Edmonton and Seattle: a trip of 4000 miles.
THE 50's Vic Tilton helped purchase two lots at Boundary & 1st Ave. A new clubhouse was built with used lumber donated by the members. There was a plank walkway across an 8 foot ditch!! We had a canteen, fireplace and hardwood floors with horsehair bales underneath for dances. The Routledge Memorial Run was named for a member from 1939. Don Franks donated the German WWII dispatch rider trophy for this run.
THE 60's In 1959 taxes were high and Henry Garbe sold the club a transport warehouse near Lougheed
Hotel for $1.00. Bob Carey's Construction Company moved
it on to the club's spare lot. This financially supported
the club for the next 22 years. The
GVMC was asked to help with
dispersal at the end of the PNE Parade under Barry Illingworth. This led to our helping with other community parades such as the Sea Festival Parade.
THE 70's
Taxes again harassed the club so with the support of the
GVMC membership, Bob
Carey and Dwight Harris founded
GVMC Holdings Ltd. and together with
Ledingham Construction they demolished the clubhouse and
built a 2-story concrete building which was sold to
Buckerfields Ltd. in 1979. The
GVMC then partnered with the Boilermakers
Union and formed 2210 Willingdon Developments. They
purchased a property at Dawson and Willingdon in Burnaby
and built an office warehouse complex with a rental hall
and a clubhouse space. The new clubhouse was opened
January 30, 1979. January 1979 was also when the
Oakland Motorcycle Club became our sister club, as we
have similar histories, family events and black and
orange colours The two Clubs decided to get together on
the Labour Day Weekend in Coburg, Oregon. This
get-together which we call “The Halfway Meet” has
continued every two years since that date.
THE 80's The 50th "Caribou Trails"
in which about 1000 bikes participated was organized
by Rick Clarkson and Dwight Harris. Trev Deeley presented the winning
trophy.
GVMC helped with the
Christmas Toy Run and worked with the Young Variety
Club to help handicapped kids. A Summer Run with the
Variety Club to the Vancouver Game Farm became an
annual event. Brent Lockhart started and designed
drills for the
GVMC Drill Team in 1983.
It was the first private M/C drill team and required
a lot of hard work and dedication by all members
involved. The Drill Team prepared for the 1983 Grey
Cup Parade.
THE 90's We assisted with Toy Run displays in malls, the Variety Club Telethon, Hyack Festival Parade and the "Tour-de-White Rock" bicycle race, to name a few. Club events included the New Year's Day Run and heritage off-road runs. The possibilities of building a new clubhouse for the year 2000 were explored.
2000 to 2010
In 2002 Jackie took over as webmaster on the new, improved website. In 2000, the
GVMC moved into its new clubhouse in Port Kells which included a fully equipped kitchen, barbeque, tables, chairs, spacious hall, outside patio, storage closets and an upstairs level.
GVMC hosted its first Surrey Food Bank Show 'N Shine July 2001 from this location. December 2001, the
GVMC website went online thanks to Darlene Hardy. From 2002 and onward, Jackie Heppler and all of us have donated our Gord Heppler Run proceeds to the Childrens' Hospital on live television during the Children's Miracle Network Telethon. In 2003, we started the annual Pioneer Road Run which is dedicated to the memory of all the loyal and hardworking Club members who have passed on, and who have had a tremendous part in the forming of the
GVMC
into what it is today. We continue to put on our traditional Runs each year: Routledge Run, Caribou Trails Run, Piston Run, and the Gord Heppler
Memorial Run.
2011 to Now
2010 was a major milestone for the
GVMC when we were inducted into the Canadian Motorcycle Hall of Fame,
not only for our longevity but also because of our constant work to improve the image of motorcycling.
In 2015 our Ride For The Kids transferred its ongoing support to the Firefighters' Burn Fund, for their Kids' Burn Camp,
with all funds raised very much appreciated by them. All our regular rides and events continued as normal until 2018,
when major forest fires in the interior caused either postponements or change of venue for some of them.
A similar situation occurred in 2019 with unfortunately another bad forest fire season.
The Covid pandemic in 2020 caused major disruption of meetings and events. Club meetings went virtual until health regulations
gradually allowed outdoor meetings and some events with social distancing and masks, then indoor meetings at the clubhouse with limited attendance.
